Preview: Nuggets at Bulls

[February 28, 2017]  Trading away one starter and another key rotation player in exchange for a pair of young projects might have been seen as the Chicago Bulls raising the white flag on the 2016-2017 season, but the team's recent results suggest otherwise. The Bulls will try to earn their fifth straight win and pull two games above .500 for the first time since mid-December when they host the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

Chicago played shorthanded in a 128-121 overtime triumph over the Phoenix Suns on Friday but welcomed point guard Cameron Payne and center Joffrey Lauvergne on Saturday while pulling off a 117-99 upset at Cleveland. The Bulls are giving more minutes to younger players with Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott off to Oklahoma City, with forward Bobby Portis and rookie swingman Denzel Valentine being the recipients of increased playing time in the last two contests. The Nuggets are clinging to the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference and dropped three of their last four games after suffering a 105-98 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. "We definitely need to find that second wind," shooting guard Gary Harris told reporters, according to the Denver Post. "We have a tough schedule coming up, so we have to be ready to play."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), CSN Chicago

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (26-33): Denver is fighting off a group of teams challenging for the No. 8 spot in the West and was disappointed in its effort at home against a playoff contender on Sunday. "We'd cut (the deficit) to five, get a stop, and then they'd get a loose ball, offensive rebound and go on a 5-0 run," Nuggets coach Mike Malone told reporters. "It was from the beginning of the game all the way to the end of the game. We didn't rebound well enough." Budding star Nikola Jokic grabbed 11 rebounds in the loss but Denver missed the interior presence of Kenneth Faried, who averages 7.8 boards and is day-to-day with a back injury.

ABOUT THE BULLS (30-29): No matter how many young players get an opportunity on coach Fred Hoiberg's team, Chicago will go as far as stars Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade take it. The two nearly became the first pair of teammates for the franchise since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to record triple-doubles in the same game on Saturday, but Wade ended up one rebound short. "It would have been (cool) to have two guys get a triple-double," Wade told reporters. "I'm sure a stat would have come out that would have said, 'Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler are the first duo to get a triple-double on a back-to-back since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen,' since they've got every record around here."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Harris is averaging 22.3 points in the last four games - up from his season mark of 14.1.

2. Valentine is 8-of-13 from 3-point range in two games since the trade deadline.

3. Denver topped Chicago 110-107 at home on Nov. 22 despite a combined 57 points from Butler and Wade.

PREDICTION: Bulls 111, Nuggets 108

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